What do they all have in common, besides being football coaches at Iowa? They all have as much job security as a college football coach can have and will all, very likely, leave the University of Iowa on there own accord.
Its a free country and this message board was made for such discussion (so, more power to you, by all means keep discussing it), but all of the talk on these boards about coaching changes is all it is going to end up being. Just talk on message boards that doesn't truly matter or end up effecting any real change.
For all that they have accomplished over the last 13 years, on and off the field, and because they have proven to be good, honorable, and decent men, Kirk Ferentz and his coaching staff have earned enough good will in the AD's office to survive much, much more than just a string of mediocre seasons, especially since we won a bowl game last year and are going to another this year.
As much as these words chafe at many who will read them, this is still the University of Iowa. No more, no less. We are not Michigan, or Ohio St. or LSU or Texas. That does not mean that we have not come a LONG way from where we were in the 60's and 70's. We absolutely have grown tremendously since those days. We have a great stadium. We have great facilities. We have a tradition of winning and we have won conference championships and many bowl games. We often can compete for some of the bigger recruits. We have plenty of money and can support the entire athletics department.
As far as we have come, we are STILL not "in the same league" (figuratively speaking) as Michigan, Ohio State, LSU or Texas, on a long term basis. Of course we all want to get there. I certainly do. It would be great to be able to REALISTICALLY expect to compete for conference championships and BCS bowls every year. It would be great to be able to reload instead of rebuild. KOK would love that. Norm Parker would love that. Kirk Ferentz would love that, and Gary Barta would love that. But, unfortunately, we just simply are not there. We may very well never be.
I am not writing this to say that everything is just peachy-keen in the football program. Not at all. I absolutely have my share of frustrations with KF and his coaching staff. I think they are too predictable. I think they rely on the percentages too much. I think they play not to lose too much. I think KF needs to take to heart the saying that nothing ventured is nothing gained a bit more. I fear that the program has gotten a little stale and could use an infusion of new blood and new ideas.
Do I want KF to leave? Not at all. If he has built the program to a point where being 7-5 and heading to a bowl game is disappoing, well, sign me up for more of that. Want to try being 6-6 and being thrilled about it, like ISU? I didn't think so. (Yeah, we've beaten the #2 team in the country too... except that we were #1 at the time.) What our program needs is tweaking, not wholesale change.
We have lost a LOT of talent to the NFL over the past few years. Florida lost alot to the NFL, they were 6-6 this year. Last year's national champion Auburn is 7-5 this year. Texas was 5-7 last year and will probably end up 7-5 this year. These mega programs who can recruit more talent than they know what to do with can not sustain a high level of success year in and year out when the NFL takes all of there experienced talent. How is Iowa supposed to do any better than them? There are more people in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metroplex than there are in the entire state of Iowa.
Its great to have high expectations, but unless you want to live a life filled with disappointment, you needto temper your high expectations with a little bit of reality. As great as we ALL would love the Iowa Hawkeye football program to be rubbing shoulders with the big boys, year in and year out, the reality of the situation is that that is simply not who we are.
Kirk Ferentz earns every penny of his $3.9 million just so we can rub shoulders with them every once in a while, because he has a LOT farther to go than Michigan or Ohio State or LSU or Texas does. We could easily be Kansas or Indiana or Duke or Washington St. In the 60's through the 70's we were.
Its a free country and this message board was made for such discussion (so, more power to you, by all means keep discussing it), but all of the talk on these boards about coaching changes is all it is going to end up being. Just talk on message boards that doesn't truly matter or end up effecting any real change.
For all that they have accomplished over the last 13 years, on and off the field, and because they have proven to be good, honorable, and decent men, Kirk Ferentz and his coaching staff have earned enough good will in the AD's office to survive much, much more than just a string of mediocre seasons, especially since we won a bowl game last year and are going to another this year.
As much as these words chafe at many who will read them, this is still the University of Iowa. No more, no less. We are not Michigan, or Ohio St. or LSU or Texas. That does not mean that we have not come a LONG way from where we were in the 60's and 70's. We absolutely have grown tremendously since those days. We have a great stadium. We have great facilities. We have a tradition of winning and we have won conference championships and many bowl games. We often can compete for some of the bigger recruits. We have plenty of money and can support the entire athletics department.
As far as we have come, we are STILL not "in the same league" (figuratively speaking) as Michigan, Ohio State, LSU or Texas, on a long term basis. Of course we all want to get there. I certainly do. It would be great to be able to REALISTICALLY expect to compete for conference championships and BCS bowls every year. It would be great to be able to reload instead of rebuild. KOK would love that. Norm Parker would love that. Kirk Ferentz would love that, and Gary Barta would love that. But, unfortunately, we just simply are not there. We may very well never be.
I am not writing this to say that everything is just peachy-keen in the football program. Not at all. I absolutely have my share of frustrations with KF and his coaching staff. I think they are too predictable. I think they rely on the percentages too much. I think they play not to lose too much. I think KF needs to take to heart the saying that nothing ventured is nothing gained a bit more. I fear that the program has gotten a little stale and could use an infusion of new blood and new ideas.
Do I want KF to leave? Not at all. If he has built the program to a point where being 7-5 and heading to a bowl game is disappoing, well, sign me up for more of that. Want to try being 6-6 and being thrilled about it, like ISU? I didn't think so. (Yeah, we've beaten the #2 team in the country too... except that we were #1 at the time.) What our program needs is tweaking, not wholesale change.
We have lost a LOT of talent to the NFL over the past few years. Florida lost alot to the NFL, they were 6-6 this year. Last year's national champion Auburn is 7-5 this year. Texas was 5-7 last year and will probably end up 7-5 this year. These mega programs who can recruit more talent than they know what to do with can not sustain a high level of success year in and year out when the NFL takes all of there experienced talent. How is Iowa supposed to do any better than them? There are more people in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metroplex than there are in the entire state of Iowa.
Its great to have high expectations, but unless you want to live a life filled with disappointment, you needto temper your high expectations with a little bit of reality. As great as we ALL would love the Iowa Hawkeye football program to be rubbing shoulders with the big boys, year in and year out, the reality of the situation is that that is simply not who we are.
Kirk Ferentz earns every penny of his $3.9 million just so we can rub shoulders with them every once in a while, because he has a LOT farther to go than Michigan or Ohio State or LSU or Texas does. We could easily be Kansas or Indiana or Duke or Washington St. In the 60's through the 70's we were.
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